This is the fifth installment in this year’s series of previews of breweries pouring at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival, which opens Thursday in Denver. We’ve invited beer writers from across the country to weigh in on the GABF 2014 regions. We’ve also asked everyone to throw in a few wild cards – breweries from anywhere in the country they want to check out.

We didn’t have to look far for a Southeast craft beer expert. John Frank, a political writer and First Drafts contributor at The Denver Post, is the resident expert. He recently joined the Post after working for The News & Observer in Raleigh, where he wrote a weekly craft beer column on North Carolina’s burgeoning craft beer scene. He also travels the country drinking craft beer and has contributed to All About Beer magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ByJohnFrank.

This is the fourth installment in this year’s series of previews of breweries pouring at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival, which opens Thursday in Denver. We’ve invited beer writers from across the country to weigh in on the GABF 2014 regions. We’ve also asked everyone to throw in a few wild cards – breweries from anywhere in the country they want to check out.

Kendall Jones is a freelance writer based in Seattle and primary author of the Washington Beer Blog. His work has appeared in Seattle magazine, Sip Northwest, Outdoors Northwest, Beer West, Beer Advocate, 425 magazine, and others.

This is the third installment in this year’s series of previews of breweries pouring at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival, which opens Thursday in Denver. We’ve invited beer writers from across the country to weigh in on the GABF 2014 regions. We’ve also asked everyone to throw in a few wild cards – breweries from anywhere in the country they want to check out.

Dan Rabin

Dan Rabin is an award-winning beer and travel journalist from Boulder and has been immersed in the Colorado beer scene for more than two decades. He pens the Rocky Mountain column for Celebrator Beer News and has contributed to publications including Ale Street News, All About Beer, Beer Connoisseur, Beer Traveler, Draft Magazine, The New Brewer, and Zymurgy. He recently released a book, Colorado Breweries Guidebook

This is the second installment in this year’s series of previews of breweries pouring at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival, which opens Thursday in Denver. We’ve invited beer writers from across the country to weigh in on the GABF 2014 regions. We’ve also asked everyone to throw in a few wild cards – breweries from anywhere in the country they want to check out.

This marks the return of our series previewing breweries pouring at the Great American Beer Festival. The 2014 edition begins Thursday at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. We’ve invited beer writers from across the country to weigh in regions as defined by the GABF map. We’ve also asked everyone to throw in a few wild cards – breweries from anywhere in the country they want to check out.

Our first installment comes from Joshua M. Bernstein, a beer, spirits, food and travel journalist who contributes to Bon Appétit, Men’s Journal, Details, Saveur and Imbibe, where he is a contributing editor. He’s also the author of Brewed Awakening and The Complete Beer Course. He lives with his wife, daughter and dog in Brooklyn, where he drinks plenty of beer and leads homebrew tours.

Would you drive out to the airport just to drink beer (provided by DIA)

A mini-Colorado beer festival started Friday in an unusual location: a terminal of the Denver International Airport.

The “Beer Flights” — get it? — beer garden is offering tastings from 11 Colorado breweries at the Jeppesen Terminal on level five near the arrivals and baggage claim. A $10 ticket gets you 10 two-ounce samples.

It’s primarily aimed at travelers and people meeting arriving passengers, but airport spokesman Heath Montgomery said he also expects some dedicated craft beer drinkers will drive out to DIA for the event. He said it drew a crowd on its first day but no traffic numbers were available.

The logo was designed by Denver-based Cultivator Advertising and Design, which has also done work for Breckenridge Brewery, Great Divide and New Belgium Brewing.

Welcome to The State of Craft Beer.

You may have heard that phrase before. The Colorado Brewers Guild, the nonprofit advocate and promoter of the state’s 200-plus independent craft brewers, has been using it for years in its marketing efforts.

Now “Colorado, The State of Craft Beer” is the foundation of a new guild consumer brand campaign meant to draw more attention to Colorado’s flourishing brewery scene at a time when the industry continues to take off nationally.

Falling Rock Tap House was selected by beer enthusiasts as the best beer bar in the Mountain West region. (Denver Post file photo)

Denver’s Falling Rock Tap House was selected by beer fans as the top craft beer bar in the Mountain West region, according to a survey released Monday by CraftBeer.com for its annual Great American Beer Bars competition.

Falling Rock Tap House was chosen by beer enthusiasts as the best craft beer bar in the mountain west.

Falling Rock owner and founder Chris Black told the magazine he and his brothers Steve and Al built the Lodo bar 17 years ago as “our favorite place to hang out and we built it for brewers and enthusiasts to enjoy. We created a place where brewers can showcase the beers they are proudest of.”Read more…

Tons of beer events will stuff the calendar around town in the days before and during GABF, from roaring mini-festivals of wild and sour beer to intimate meet-the-brewer dinners, from a Gospel brunch to one-off beers inspired by hikes.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!